UNC basketball scores season-high 62 in first half en route to 20-point win over FSU
North Carolina started the game on an 18-0 run and ran away to a 94-74 victory over Florida State Saturday at the Dean E. Smith Center.
The Tar Heels (18-7, 10-4 ACC) scored a season-high 62 points in the first half and their 38-point halftime lead was the largest ever against an ACC opponent in the Smith Center. The Seminoles (13-11, 6-8) missed their first 10 shots from the floor and didn’t make their first basket until a Cam Fletcher layup with 11:33 left in the first half.
Carolina hasn’t looked like a running team very often this season, but against the ‘Noles they got out in transition often. The Heels had 22 fast break points, which surpassed 20 for just the second time this season. Their season-high was 25 points against N.C. State.
“I think we’re one of the better teams in the country in transition,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “Having two primary ball handlers with R.J. (Davis) and Caleb (Love). Actually, three with Leaky (Black).”
Florida State was, at one point, tied for first in the ACC with a 6-2 record. There’s little resemblance between the Seminoles now and the team that beat Duke and swept Miami just last month.
FSU has two starting seniors in Anthony Polite and Malik Osburne out due to injuries. Eight minutes into Saturday’s game, leading scoring Caleb Mills went down with an injury too. The Seminoles never really had a chance against the Heels as their current losing streak has now reached six games.
A lot has changed in the last month for UNC freshman Dontrez Styles too. The 6-foot-6 Kinston native played only sparingly for most of the season, but the past two games he’s starting to secure a regular spot in the rotation. Styles played a season-high 15 minutes and scored eight points with four rebounds.
“It’s been tough, every athlete wants to play but I just trusted coach Davis, just kept trying to better myself mentally,” Styles said. “Just playing hard coming to practice every day just doing what he wants me to do. Now it’s finally showing. I’m thankful.”
Four of Carolina’s starters scored in double figures, including 16 points from guard R.J. Davis.
Here’s what we learned in the Heels’ win:
Size doesn’t matter
FSU has one of the biggest teams in the ACC, with 7-foot-2 Tanor Ngom and 7-foot-1 John Butler anchoring its defense in the paint. But the Heels never had a problem going inside for baskets — even when they played with a smaller four guard lineup.
“Florida State, they’re a good team, they have length, size, athleticism,” R.J. Davis said. “We were able to get the mismatches we wanted or if you just drive and penetrate and kick out as the defense swarmed. Just the ball movement we fed off that.”
Carolina outscored the ‘Noles 46-30 in points in the paint. It got 13 offensive rebounds that it turned into 21 second chance points. In the first half, UNC outrebounded FSU 21-10, although its advantage for the game was just 40-34.
UNC forward Armando Bacot had 17 points and 14 rebounds. Forward Brady Manek added 16 points.
Slump over
Caleb Love had been in a shooting slump over his last eight games. The sophomore guard was shooting 27 percent from the floor and 31.9 percent from 3-point range.
Against the ‘Noles, he showed no signs of struggling. Love made five of his first six 3-pointers in the first half with an array of step backs, 25-footers and even a rare catch-and-shoot. Love scored 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field.
“I told myself this was the going to be the game I get out my slump or whatever, just getting the feel of the basketball back and seeing a couple go though,” Love said. ”I’m glad that I had this game, but I’m more glad we won.”
About the only thing that didn’t go right for Love was his steal and attempted windmill dunk in the second half that caught the rim and bounced back as he fell to the floor. Love made up for it on the ensuing possession by making his career-high sixth 3-pointer of the game.
“I caught a flat tire,” Love joked. “I definitely was going to windmill that, but we’ll get them next time.”
Sharing is caring
Carolina had a season-high 22 assists and coupled with 17 against Clemson, tied the highest two-game total from this season with 39 against Virginia and Georgia Tech. Hubert Davis said he thinks the Heels are finally starting to understand they’re at their best offensively when they have good ball movement.
UNC shot 55 percent from the floor, marking the third time in the last five games it has shot 50 percent or better.
“If we share the ball, and we do this together, everybody benefits,” Davis said. “One of the things we talk about every day is spacing and balance and a combination of player movement and ball movement. If we continue to do that, with our ability to shoot the ball and Armando finishing around the rim and Leaky (Black) his ability to drive and distribute, it puts a lot of pressure on teams.”
Love tied a season-high with six assists. R.J. Davis and Black had five assists each.
Davis said Love’s game-winning dish to Manek against Clemson on Tuesday helped reinforce what he’s been saying all along.
“It’s something we’ve talked about,” Davis said. “But I really believe that more and more the guys are understanding and believing and trusting from an offensive standpoint of doing this together and how that plays a part in our success on the offensive end.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 4:04 PM with the headline "UNC basketball scores season-high 62 in first half en route to 20-point win over FSU."